A high-rise in Florida collapsed. The search and rescue mission continues.

A “tragedy without precedent.”

For four decades, the Champlain Tower South condominium lined the Surfside, Florida, skyline. Then, on Thursday, it was gone. Ten people have been confirmed dead. More than 150 lives remain unaccounted for. Families are growing increasingly anguished at the slow pace of recovery. Loved ones are losing hope.

A cause has yet to be determined for the collapse of the 12-story condominium. But here’s what we do know: The building, according to a 2020 study, has been sinking at an alarming rate since the 1990s. In addition, an October 2018 inspection report found “abundant” cracking and spalling of the columns, beams and walls in the garage under the tower that collapsed. 

Upon news of the collapse, USA TODAY immediately started to unravel what happened. Our graphics team detailed what the condo looked like before and after the collapse. Our photo editors compiled these heartbreaking images of the ongoing rescue efforts.

We also had journalists on the ground. “I have spent the last 24 hours speaking to at least 200 family members that are looking for their loved ones,” said Romina Ruiz-Goiriena, who was one of only two reporters inside the family reunification site that first day.

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More than 150 people remain unaccounted for after a condo tower in Surfside, Florida, partially collapsed last week. (Photo: Special to USA TODAY)

More condo collapse coverage

‘We were racing against time’ | The balcony doors of the Aguero family’s 11th floor Surfside oceanfront condo unit began to rattle and shake. Albert Aguero peered out the window and saw a plume of what appeared to be gray smoke. It wasn’t until he stepped out on the balcony that he discovered it was something entirely different – tiny bits of concrete dust. Champlain Towers South was collapsing.

‘Please don’t leave me’ | Nicholas Balboa was walking his dog around midnight when he felt the ground shake. The rumble was followed by a loud crash. Then, as Balboa approached the piles of concrete and metal, he heard a scream. “Can somebody see me?” a boy’s voice said. Balboa climbed over rubble to reach the boy, later identified as Jonah Handler. “He was just saying, ‘Please don’t leave me, please don’t leave me.’ I told him: ‘We’re not gonna go anywhere. We’re staying.'” 

‘What will I tell my son?’ | Six-year-old John Paul Rodriguez keeps telling his dad to call his missing grandmother’s cellphone. Elena Blasser, 64, is among the dozens of people still unaccounted for. As the days pass with no news, a sense of dread has overcome Blasser’s son, Pablo Rodriguez. John Paul knows his grandmother and great-grandmother, Elena Chavez, were in the building when it crumbled, and he seems to think they will be OK. But the likely loss gnaws at Rodriguez. “What will I tell my son?” Rodriguez, 40, said as tears rolled down his cheeks. “Saturdays are abuela’s days.”

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